Canine Behaviour Foundation Course
Module 1 - Section 13 - Preventing Behaviour Problems in Pups
Module 1 - Section 13 - Preventing Behaviour Problems in Pups
1. Prevention of separation anxiety
2. Preventing Resource Guarding
3. Preventing Jumping up
4. Preventing Excessive Barking
5. Preventing Digging in inappropriate areas
6. Preventing Begging
7. Preventing excessive Licking
8. Preventing Reactive behaviour when pup hugged
9. Dealing with 2 pups together
1. Prevention of separation anxiety
Dogs are social animals; naturally they live together in packs. However, it is not a good thing to have your dog with you on a 24/7 basis. All this teaches the dog is that he cannot survive if he is alone, especially in a one dog household. This leads to behavioural problems such as over dependence, separation anxiety, destructive behaviour, barking and digging to mention but a few. We all love it that our dogs follow us around and love being with us so much, but by the same token they need to develop independence and be able to spend a fair amount of time alone. Look at it from the point of view of what would you rather have:- a child who clings to your leg and screams when you leave it the first day of nursery school or, a child who goes off to school, waves goodbye and says ‘see you later’? Many of our clients will ask ‘isn’t there a middle route?” No, there isn’t!
Many owners make the mistake of having the pup with them on a 24/7 basis when it is first brought home, as mentioned previously. If we look at the situation from the pups point of view - it has been with mom and litter mates from when it was born - suddenly it comes to a new home and its people are with it all the time - they then go back to work and the pup is left alone - of course it won't cope.
When the pup comes home it must start immediately with what the daily routine is going to be when the owner/s are at work no matter how cute the pup is or how much people want to pick up and cuddle it. To give the pup too much attention at this stage will result in the pup not coping when the owner does leave.
We work on preparing the pup for separation in the following ways which will build the pups confidence:-
In the Home: In this part of the exercise we work on the pup being left alone at home, inside, for short periods of time starting a just a few minutes at a time.. The pup can either be left in the crate, or playpen. If you are just leaving the pup in a room, make sure the room is ‘puppy proof’ beforehand. .Always ensure that the time alone is rewarding for the pup in that when it is alone, it has a wonderful Busy Buddy to chew on and this particular chew toy is kept for when pup is alone only - it is here that we like to make use of the raw femur bone as very rewarding for the pup and as owner is home it can be supervised. As we have mentioned before pups can easily swallow objects and care must be taken and the item being chewed upon checked daily. How you leave the pup alone in this exercise would depend on how confident the pup already is, so the time period could be adjusted accordingly to longer periods - do tell your clients to make the effort that the pup can be left alone for the amount of time they will be at work before they go back to work.
Another exercise in the home you can start to do if you have a pup that follows you all around the home is the Alone Time exercise. Start leaving your pup alone for only 15 or so seconds to start with simply by shutting the door after as you go to another room. Shut the door, turn around and walk back in. Don’t make a fuss going out, just go. As you walk back in make a note of where the pup is - perhaps sitting right by the door - if so keep the time period short and build up accordingly and you only increase the time period when the pup is no longer reacting to you leaving and coming back into the room. When you come back in go and sit down or whatever else you were doing and completely ignore the puppy. About ten minutes later repeat the exercise. This needs to be practiced over and over however it is an excellent exercise to do to help a pup cope with being alone.
If when you walk out the door, the pup starts barking or scratching, ignore it, and as soon as the pup is quiet open the door and walk back into the room going back to what you were doing before you stood up and left. Don’t pay any attention to your pup; just keep on with your normal life. If you were to pay attention to the pup or return to the room when it is barking, whining, scratching etc, all that is being achieved is that the pup is successfully training the owner! If the pup is crying, then go back a step and shorted the time period away from it.
Do this several times a day gradually building up the time period – if the pup is not coping with you leaving the room, then this exercise to be practiced a lot more often and reduce the time period.
With pups and dogs it is important to stagger the amount of time left alone – work up to about 5 minutes, then reduce to 3, then up to 8 minutes, then down to about 5 minutes and keep on increasing till the pup can happily spend quite some time alone. By doing this, you are teaching the dog that it can survive alone and doing it in a manner that the dog can cope with. These times are of course dependent on the pup itself. If you have started the alone time training right from when the pup came home, the periods above can be lengthened accordingly.
Where dogs are concerned is that they do not generalize - that the pup can cope with you disappearing through the kitchen door for 5 minutes does not mean that it can cope with you disappearing through the bedroom door and closing it! At each and ever door in the home start from the beginning with a few seconds with each door - once done with one door, the process will go much faster. Practice with all the doors gradually building up the time period.
Owner leaving the home: Very often dogs get very stressed about situations such as these, and this is mainly due to the amount of attention we pay them when we come in or go out - ‘don’t worry mummy/daddy will be back soon’ etc, and we inadvertently cause the problem to occur. In order to avoid situations such as this, simply practice a very similar exercise as above for leaving the home. Get all your bits and pieces together, ensure that the area you are leaving the pup is totally safe and that it has adequate toys and chews to keep it occupied and has recently been taken to the toilet. Say ‘bye’ and leave.
As in the Alone time training above, keep the period short and stagger the time period. If the pup does stress then start with only 10 - 15 seconds and gradually build up. When you come back in, put down your bag and keys, let the pup out if in its playpen, ask for a sit and reward. You can practice doing this over and over throughout the next few days gradually increasing the time period and staggering the time period as well. Do remember that if you have built up to about an hour that on arriving home, take your pup to the toilet immediately and while the pup is still young rather pick the pup up due to the sphincter muscle being underdeveloped - the pup may not be able to refrain from eliminating.
If you are dealing with a pup that has already developed a problem about being left alone, in addition to the above, don’t give the dog context cues that you are leaving. Start by changing your own habits – if you always leave your bag and keys in the same place, change the location – if you always leave by the front door, leave by the back door – if you always leave at seven thirty, leave at seven fifteen etc.
Outside Alone Time: Here we are going to teach the pup that it is ok to be outside by itself. Remember, always ensure that the area you leave the pup is safe and swimming pools, ponds etc are not a threat to the pup. Dont start this until the pup is confident in the exercises above and you can leave it for at least 15 minutes.
Firstly, start by getting the pup really involved with a nice big chewy rawhide bone or Kong a few days before starting and keep this for the Alone Time exercise only. Whether you do this for a few days or not will depend very much on the pup itself – with some pups you can put them outside immediately with the new chew toy and they will be happy, others may stress slightly and you will have to go slower, as above. You can even smear a bit of peanut butter in the gaps and push in some nice pieces of biltong. Please note, that peanut butter can be toxic to dogs in large amounts, so use organic peanut butter if possible and don’t put on too much, especially if your pup has an easily upset tummy.
As your pup is really ‘getting into’ the chewy, take it away. Do this several times over the course of a day. This will result in this particular chewy being the most desirable object to the pup! When you feel the pup is ready, put the pup and the bone outside and let them have a good chew for a few minutes. The take the bone away and bring the pup inside. This will help to change the pups prospective and outside alone time will become a rewarding experience. With this exercise, the same applies as the previous one’s – stagger the time and ignore unwanted behaviour, gradually building up the time period.
mAnother way to build up the pup’s confidence is to ensure that all members of your family take the pup out for a walk and spend time with it rather than just one person. If you have family and friends that the pup knows and visit often, they too can spend time with the pup and take it on walks, even short one. Read the section on Location Separation Anxiety to take this further
2. Preventing Resource Guarding
You have already been given the basic exercises to prevent this in your Puppy Notes for After a Pup Comes Home. A reminder is that to prevent resource guarding you would do the following with a few additions:-
1. Swap Exercise
2. Leave Exercise
3. Food Bowl Exercises
4. Couches / Bed etc - these all 'belong' to you and the family who on occasion help the pup to remember this. As the pup jumps up onto the chair for example, tell it 'off' and when it does get off leave it on the floor for a few minutes, then invite the pup back onto the chair/bed etc - this is now being done on your terms. Really does help to keep your status in the combined human/canine social structure balanced.
5. Shared Pup Duties - so that the pup does not become over dependent on any one person, as mentioned above, different family members can take the pup out for walks, whole family to be involved in feeding, playing and giving the pup love. At some stage over the first year of its life the pup will probably decide that one particular person is 'its' own person and prefer to spend more time with that person - just make sure the relationship is balanced by bringing in exercises such as above.
Dogs are social animals; naturally they live together in packs. However, it is not a good thing to have your dog with you on a 24/7 basis. All this teaches the dog is that he cannot survive if he is alone, especially in a one dog household. This leads to behavioural problems such as over dependence, separation anxiety, destructive behaviour, barking and digging to mention but a few. We all love it that our dogs follow us around and love being with us so much, but by the same token they need to develop independence and be able to spend a fair amount of time alone. Look at it from the point of view of what would you rather have:- a child who clings to your leg and screams when you leave it the first day of nursery school or, a child who goes off to school, waves goodbye and says ‘see you later’? Many of our clients will ask ‘isn’t there a middle route?” No, there isn’t!
Many owners make the mistake of having the pup with them on a 24/7 basis when it is first brought home, as mentioned previously. If we look at the situation from the pups point of view - it has been with mom and litter mates from when it was born - suddenly it comes to a new home and its people are with it all the time - they then go back to work and the pup is left alone - of course it won't cope.
When the pup comes home it must start immediately with what the daily routine is going to be when the owner/s are at work no matter how cute the pup is or how much people want to pick up and cuddle it. To give the pup too much attention at this stage will result in the pup not coping when the owner does leave.
We work on preparing the pup for separation in the following ways which will build the pups confidence:-
In the Home: In this part of the exercise we work on the pup being left alone at home, inside, for short periods of time starting a just a few minutes at a time.. The pup can either be left in the crate, or playpen. If you are just leaving the pup in a room, make sure the room is ‘puppy proof’ beforehand. .Always ensure that the time alone is rewarding for the pup in that when it is alone, it has a wonderful Busy Buddy to chew on and this particular chew toy is kept for when pup is alone only - it is here that we like to make use of the raw femur bone as very rewarding for the pup and as owner is home it can be supervised. As we have mentioned before pups can easily swallow objects and care must be taken and the item being chewed upon checked daily. How you leave the pup alone in this exercise would depend on how confident the pup already is, so the time period could be adjusted accordingly to longer periods - do tell your clients to make the effort that the pup can be left alone for the amount of time they will be at work before they go back to work.
Another exercise in the home you can start to do if you have a pup that follows you all around the home is the Alone Time exercise. Start leaving your pup alone for only 15 or so seconds to start with simply by shutting the door after as you go to another room. Shut the door, turn around and walk back in. Don’t make a fuss going out, just go. As you walk back in make a note of where the pup is - perhaps sitting right by the door - if so keep the time period short and build up accordingly and you only increase the time period when the pup is no longer reacting to you leaving and coming back into the room. When you come back in go and sit down or whatever else you were doing and completely ignore the puppy. About ten minutes later repeat the exercise. This needs to be practiced over and over however it is an excellent exercise to do to help a pup cope with being alone.
If when you walk out the door, the pup starts barking or scratching, ignore it, and as soon as the pup is quiet open the door and walk back into the room going back to what you were doing before you stood up and left. Don’t pay any attention to your pup; just keep on with your normal life. If you were to pay attention to the pup or return to the room when it is barking, whining, scratching etc, all that is being achieved is that the pup is successfully training the owner! If the pup is crying, then go back a step and shorted the time period away from it.
Do this several times a day gradually building up the time period – if the pup is not coping with you leaving the room, then this exercise to be practiced a lot more often and reduce the time period.
With pups and dogs it is important to stagger the amount of time left alone – work up to about 5 minutes, then reduce to 3, then up to 8 minutes, then down to about 5 minutes and keep on increasing till the pup can happily spend quite some time alone. By doing this, you are teaching the dog that it can survive alone and doing it in a manner that the dog can cope with. These times are of course dependent on the pup itself. If you have started the alone time training right from when the pup came home, the periods above can be lengthened accordingly.
Where dogs are concerned is that they do not generalize - that the pup can cope with you disappearing through the kitchen door for 5 minutes does not mean that it can cope with you disappearing through the bedroom door and closing it! At each and ever door in the home start from the beginning with a few seconds with each door - once done with one door, the process will go much faster. Practice with all the doors gradually building up the time period.
Owner leaving the home: Very often dogs get very stressed about situations such as these, and this is mainly due to the amount of attention we pay them when we come in or go out - ‘don’t worry mummy/daddy will be back soon’ etc, and we inadvertently cause the problem to occur. In order to avoid situations such as this, simply practice a very similar exercise as above for leaving the home. Get all your bits and pieces together, ensure that the area you are leaving the pup is totally safe and that it has adequate toys and chews to keep it occupied and has recently been taken to the toilet. Say ‘bye’ and leave.
As in the Alone time training above, keep the period short and stagger the time period. If the pup does stress then start with only 10 - 15 seconds and gradually build up. When you come back in, put down your bag and keys, let the pup out if in its playpen, ask for a sit and reward. You can practice doing this over and over throughout the next few days gradually increasing the time period and staggering the time period as well. Do remember that if you have built up to about an hour that on arriving home, take your pup to the toilet immediately and while the pup is still young rather pick the pup up due to the sphincter muscle being underdeveloped - the pup may not be able to refrain from eliminating.
If you are dealing with a pup that has already developed a problem about being left alone, in addition to the above, don’t give the dog context cues that you are leaving. Start by changing your own habits – if you always leave your bag and keys in the same place, change the location – if you always leave by the front door, leave by the back door – if you always leave at seven thirty, leave at seven fifteen etc.
Outside Alone Time: Here we are going to teach the pup that it is ok to be outside by itself. Remember, always ensure that the area you leave the pup is safe and swimming pools, ponds etc are not a threat to the pup. Dont start this until the pup is confident in the exercises above and you can leave it for at least 15 minutes.
Firstly, start by getting the pup really involved with a nice big chewy rawhide bone or Kong a few days before starting and keep this for the Alone Time exercise only. Whether you do this for a few days or not will depend very much on the pup itself – with some pups you can put them outside immediately with the new chew toy and they will be happy, others may stress slightly and you will have to go slower, as above. You can even smear a bit of peanut butter in the gaps and push in some nice pieces of biltong. Please note, that peanut butter can be toxic to dogs in large amounts, so use organic peanut butter if possible and don’t put on too much, especially if your pup has an easily upset tummy.
As your pup is really ‘getting into’ the chewy, take it away. Do this several times over the course of a day. This will result in this particular chewy being the most desirable object to the pup! When you feel the pup is ready, put the pup and the bone outside and let them have a good chew for a few minutes. The take the bone away and bring the pup inside. This will help to change the pups prospective and outside alone time will become a rewarding experience. With this exercise, the same applies as the previous one’s – stagger the time and ignore unwanted behaviour, gradually building up the time period.
mAnother way to build up the pup’s confidence is to ensure that all members of your family take the pup out for a walk and spend time with it rather than just one person. If you have family and friends that the pup knows and visit often, they too can spend time with the pup and take it on walks, even short one. Read the section on Location Separation Anxiety to take this further
2. Preventing Resource Guarding
You have already been given the basic exercises to prevent this in your Puppy Notes for After a Pup Comes Home. A reminder is that to prevent resource guarding you would do the following with a few additions:-
1. Swap Exercise
2. Leave Exercise
3. Food Bowl Exercises
4. Couches / Bed etc - these all 'belong' to you and the family who on occasion help the pup to remember this. As the pup jumps up onto the chair for example, tell it 'off' and when it does get off leave it on the floor for a few minutes, then invite the pup back onto the chair/bed etc - this is now being done on your terms. Really does help to keep your status in the combined human/canine social structure balanced.
5. Shared Pup Duties - so that the pup does not become over dependent on any one person, as mentioned above, different family members can take the pup out for walks, whole family to be involved in feeding, playing and giving the pup love. At some stage over the first year of its life the pup will probably decide that one particular person is 'its' own person and prefer to spend more time with that person - just make sure the relationship is balanced by bringing in exercises such as above.
3. Preventing Jumping Up
“a problem that the majority of my clients report that their dogs as being guilty of, but they do not see it as a major issue”
John Fisher
The reason that puppies jump up goes back to their natural behaviour – as the mother approaches, the puppy will jump up as a greeting and request food. The pup is actually not jumping up; rather it is standing on its rear legs and putting the paws on the mother or person.
When our little ball of fluff is just that, it is lovely to be greeted in that way – but what happens when our little ball of fluff grows up to weigh 50 kgs or more? If you think about it, we encourage the behaviour of greeting us by allowing jumping up, and then cause total confusion to the pup when it gets a bit older and when one day we decide it is no longer acceptable.
The easiest way is prevention, which is better than cure. Simply don’t allow your puppy to jump, get him into the habit of calling him and then getting him to sit in front of you. This is especially important if your puppy is going to grow to a large size. Even if your pup is not going to be large, it is still a good habit to get into as it stops dogs jumping on us when you have work clothes on or an armful of shopping or if there is a small child or elderly person visiting or staying with us.
Many owners, inadvertently, make the problem worse by shouting or screaming ‘no’ at the pup. If the owner is a bit volatile they may excite the dog even more resulting in more of the undesired behaviour. Remembering that attention is attention to a dog, whether positive or negative, will give you an idea why this keeps on reinforcing the behaviour. Another reason that owners can reinforce this behaviour is by being inconsistent.
Dogs work harder on an intermittent reward training system. This is simply because the dog does not know when the reward will be forthcoming so it keeps on trying. Now if we look at the situation whereby an owner will greet a pup sometimes when it jumps up to greet, but other times will have on white trousers or an armful of shopping etc, the owner then shouts at the dog – the pup is totally confused and because it has not been taught an alternative behaviour, the pup will just keep on trying harder to get the reward of being greeted by the owner simply by continuing to jump up. We have a bad habit of telling our dogs what we don’t want, but seldom tell them what we do want!
You may find that during your behaviour career that you will come across dogs that do not jump up onto the front of the person, they now jump up against people’s backs instead, a very dangerous behaviour as they can easily send the person flying. This normally happens when people have used one of the old fashioned methods of getting dogs to stop jumping up – they knee them in the chest. Now all that happens is that the dog learns that jumping in the front doesn’t work so starts to jump up behind instead!
One of the main reasons that dogs continue to jump up is because one member of the family allows it. With training, you have to be consistent, no means no, not maybe or this time it’s ok. So please tell your client to talk to all the members of the family and ensure everybody plays their parts accordingly or else you will end up with a situation whereby the pup does not jump on the owner, but still does it to the other family members and visitors.
The easiest and simplest way to teach a dog not to jump is to start preventative measures when it is a pup. Using the ‘work to earn - specific’ which is part of the House Rules, owner stops feeding pup from a bowl completely and rather takes the days rations of food and calls the pup, asks for a sit and rewards with one piece of food. Owner takes a few steps back and repeats. Do this in different locations and mix it up a lot. The hand signal in conjunction with the cue is used at the same time. The ideal situation is to do this throughout the day using the whole days ration of food.
When the pup is proficient in above, then owner starts the Fading process as given in your notes. It is a good idea for each and every member of the family, especially children to get involved. Remember that when working with a child, there is always adult supervision.
Another time when pups tend to get over excited and jump all over people is when visitors arrive and having read all the notes on dog language now, you will understand that if a pup that normally never jumps up starts to do so when visitors arrive – the pup is not coping – it has gone into F=fooling around mode!
A way to easily stop this from becoming a habit is to invite several people over who arrive within about 30 minutes of one another which you have already told to please pay no attention to the pup at all – this is a training exercise.
Have your pup on lead when you answer the door with treats in your hand or pocket. Holding onto the lead, ask your pup for a sit and reward. The chances are, initially; that the pup will not do this, so kneel down, lure the pup into a sit and reward, both with a treat and with your voice “good sit, good dog’. The pup has no idea of what to do or what you expect from it – therefore you are training the behaviour you do expect – the pup may even momentarily have forgotten what the ‘sit’ cue means as it is over excited or can’t cope.
Do this several times. During this time your visitor is paying no attention to what is going on and is not talking or interacting with the pup, and when the pup is sitting let the visitor give the pup a treat. At this stage, hold onto the pup by slipping a finger through the collar. If it stands up, just repeat the lure exercise and sit the puppy again. Your visitor will now walk into the lounge (you still have the pup on lead). You sit for a few minutes with the pup next to you in the sit position, and then the visitor calls the pup, asks for a sit, gives the reward, and then the owner calls the pup back and repeats the process. This same process is repeated several times with the same visitor going in and out the door, starting at the beginning each time.
Once the pup is proficient in this exercise, next step is to do it without a lead. We find that with a lot of pups/dogs, what gets them excited/not coping, is that the person offering the food will lean over the pup, so ask them to ask the pup to sit, then offer the treat without bending over the pup.
Don’t get despondent if the behaviour seems to get worse, this is called an extinction burst – a bit like a child throwing a temper tantrum, it will get better, just be patient. As soon as you have the puppy with all four feet on the floor, you can then progress to getting the pup to sit in front of you.
Another great way to train is for the whole family to take the dogs daily rations and stand in a circle and call the pup from one to another requesting a Sit each and every time. This not only improves the Jumping Up, you are also working towards a great Recall!
“a problem that the majority of my clients report that their dogs as being guilty of, but they do not see it as a major issue”
John Fisher
The reason that puppies jump up goes back to their natural behaviour – as the mother approaches, the puppy will jump up as a greeting and request food. The pup is actually not jumping up; rather it is standing on its rear legs and putting the paws on the mother or person.
When our little ball of fluff is just that, it is lovely to be greeted in that way – but what happens when our little ball of fluff grows up to weigh 50 kgs or more? If you think about it, we encourage the behaviour of greeting us by allowing jumping up, and then cause total confusion to the pup when it gets a bit older and when one day we decide it is no longer acceptable.
The easiest way is prevention, which is better than cure. Simply don’t allow your puppy to jump, get him into the habit of calling him and then getting him to sit in front of you. This is especially important if your puppy is going to grow to a large size. Even if your pup is not going to be large, it is still a good habit to get into as it stops dogs jumping on us when you have work clothes on or an armful of shopping or if there is a small child or elderly person visiting or staying with us.
Many owners, inadvertently, make the problem worse by shouting or screaming ‘no’ at the pup. If the owner is a bit volatile they may excite the dog even more resulting in more of the undesired behaviour. Remembering that attention is attention to a dog, whether positive or negative, will give you an idea why this keeps on reinforcing the behaviour. Another reason that owners can reinforce this behaviour is by being inconsistent.
Dogs work harder on an intermittent reward training system. This is simply because the dog does not know when the reward will be forthcoming so it keeps on trying. Now if we look at the situation whereby an owner will greet a pup sometimes when it jumps up to greet, but other times will have on white trousers or an armful of shopping etc, the owner then shouts at the dog – the pup is totally confused and because it has not been taught an alternative behaviour, the pup will just keep on trying harder to get the reward of being greeted by the owner simply by continuing to jump up. We have a bad habit of telling our dogs what we don’t want, but seldom tell them what we do want!
You may find that during your behaviour career that you will come across dogs that do not jump up onto the front of the person, they now jump up against people’s backs instead, a very dangerous behaviour as they can easily send the person flying. This normally happens when people have used one of the old fashioned methods of getting dogs to stop jumping up – they knee them in the chest. Now all that happens is that the dog learns that jumping in the front doesn’t work so starts to jump up behind instead!
One of the main reasons that dogs continue to jump up is because one member of the family allows it. With training, you have to be consistent, no means no, not maybe or this time it’s ok. So please tell your client to talk to all the members of the family and ensure everybody plays their parts accordingly or else you will end up with a situation whereby the pup does not jump on the owner, but still does it to the other family members and visitors.
The easiest and simplest way to teach a dog not to jump is to start preventative measures when it is a pup. Using the ‘work to earn - specific’ which is part of the House Rules, owner stops feeding pup from a bowl completely and rather takes the days rations of food and calls the pup, asks for a sit and rewards with one piece of food. Owner takes a few steps back and repeats. Do this in different locations and mix it up a lot. The hand signal in conjunction with the cue is used at the same time. The ideal situation is to do this throughout the day using the whole days ration of food.
When the pup is proficient in above, then owner starts the Fading process as given in your notes. It is a good idea for each and every member of the family, especially children to get involved. Remember that when working with a child, there is always adult supervision.
Another time when pups tend to get over excited and jump all over people is when visitors arrive and having read all the notes on dog language now, you will understand that if a pup that normally never jumps up starts to do so when visitors arrive – the pup is not coping – it has gone into F=fooling around mode!
A way to easily stop this from becoming a habit is to invite several people over who arrive within about 30 minutes of one another which you have already told to please pay no attention to the pup at all – this is a training exercise.
Have your pup on lead when you answer the door with treats in your hand or pocket. Holding onto the lead, ask your pup for a sit and reward. The chances are, initially; that the pup will not do this, so kneel down, lure the pup into a sit and reward, both with a treat and with your voice “good sit, good dog’. The pup has no idea of what to do or what you expect from it – therefore you are training the behaviour you do expect – the pup may even momentarily have forgotten what the ‘sit’ cue means as it is over excited or can’t cope.
Do this several times. During this time your visitor is paying no attention to what is going on and is not talking or interacting with the pup, and when the pup is sitting let the visitor give the pup a treat. At this stage, hold onto the pup by slipping a finger through the collar. If it stands up, just repeat the lure exercise and sit the puppy again. Your visitor will now walk into the lounge (you still have the pup on lead). You sit for a few minutes with the pup next to you in the sit position, and then the visitor calls the pup, asks for a sit, gives the reward, and then the owner calls the pup back and repeats the process. This same process is repeated several times with the same visitor going in and out the door, starting at the beginning each time.
Once the pup is proficient in this exercise, next step is to do it without a lead. We find that with a lot of pups/dogs, what gets them excited/not coping, is that the person offering the food will lean over the pup, so ask them to ask the pup to sit, then offer the treat without bending over the pup.
Don’t get despondent if the behaviour seems to get worse, this is called an extinction burst – a bit like a child throwing a temper tantrum, it will get better, just be patient. As soon as you have the puppy with all four feet on the floor, you can then progress to getting the pup to sit in front of you.
Another great way to train is for the whole family to take the dogs daily rations and stand in a circle and call the pup from one to another requesting a Sit each and every time. This not only improves the Jumping Up, you are also working towards a great Recall!
4. Preventing Excessive Barking
Whether we like it or not, barking is part of a dogs natural behaviour, they will bark to raise the alarm about a possible intruder or when they feel threatened, they will even bark out of happiness or excitement, as a greeting, and then there are the cases where we ourselves have encouraged the dog to bark without being aware of it – ever had a dog stand at the front door and bark and you obliging get out of your chair and let it out? Or, the dog may bark in front of the fridge and you obliging open the fridge door and give it a treat? Well, what has happened here is that we have, unconsciously, rewarded the behaviour and if we keep on doing this, so will the dog – the behaviour works. In other words, instead of us training the dog, the dog has trained us!
The breed of the dog can contribute to the amount of barking. The dogs that tend to have the least barking related problems are the Basenji, which is a small, short haired dog that originated from Africa and falls into the Hound Group. This dog is not mute, but seldom barks – although it does ‘sing’. Other breeds which are noted not to be excessive barkers are the Bloodhound, Golden Retriever, Newfoundland, Akita’s and Rottweiler’s, then follows Labrador Retrievers, the Australian Shepherd, Great Danes, Old English Sheepdog and Alaskan Malamutes.
At the other end of the spectrum are the dogs which are most commonly the worst barkers (when they are not supposed to be) are the Terrier breed – Yorkshire, Cairn, West Highland, Fox Terrier as well as the Poodle breeds and Chihuahua and Pekinese. Having listed the above I have seen Poodles that hardly ever barked and have had a client who had a Rotti that had a really bad barking problem, but this at least gives you a general idea.
Why does the excessive barking occur? As mentioned above, it could be that the owner has inadvertently reinforced the behaviour. Alternatively, excessive barking is normally caused by boredom and/or frustration due to pup not getting either enough physical or mental stimulation. An additional factor can be that the pup has been left alone for too long without human company or that separation anxiety if perhaps present. It must be remembered that when we bring dogs into our lives, we are, in a way creating a human/canine pack or social structure.
It is when barking becomes excessive or incessant and the dog does not listen when asked to be quiet that it becomes a problem, to us humans at least! One of the very worse things we can do as humans is to yell at the dog ‘be quiet!’ as our frayed nerves just can’t take any more of the noise.
What we are inadvertently doing is exhibiting exactly the same behaviour of the dog and it may even think that we are joining in, or, that there really is something to bark about and the barking may increase to frenzy level. When we remember that to a dog attention is attention whether negative or positive, what we are doing by screaming, shouting and in some cases even smacking the dog is to reinforce the behaviour. If the owner smacks the dog, it may well stop barking, but we may just be starting a scenario wherein the dog learns that barking is unacceptable when the owner is present, but will continue the behaviour when the owner is not present!
It has even been seen in some dogs that the barking will become an enjoyable experience and they either continue for the sheer enjoyment of it or it has been hypothesized that the behaviour of barking may help to calm a dog down, as improbable as this may seem from the human perspective!
In no time at all, barking becomes an enjoyable habit. And for many dogs, once they start barking, they tend to continue barking for the sheer fun of it. The dog is not barking to annoy us, there is something wrong and in the Problem Behaviour section we will deal with possible causes and solutions, here we are looking at the way to prevent the pup from developing the problem.
A method that we can apply to prevent barking becoming a problem is to teach the dog to bark and be quiet on command. This is a method that is employed by many of the leading behaviourists. To achieve this:-
a. Set this up as a training exercise by having somebody available who will ring the doorbell when you ask them too. Have a supply of really nice treats available. Special treats such as Liver Bread are used for this exercise, which not only tastes good (to the dog!) but is easily smelt. If you can remember we said previously that the dogs sense of smell is much stronger than ours, as opposed to their taste buds, so by having a really nice smelly treat with for this exercise, it will be much easier to get the pups attention.
b. When the pup barks at the doorbell being rung, allow it to bark about three times, then offer a special treat holding it just over the nose and say ‘quiet’ or similar. It really doesn’t matter what cue you use for this, but be consistent and use the same cue every time and don’t make use of a cue that you will use in any other situation. As the dog stops barking to take the treat, say ‘quite, good dog’ and offer the treat. If the dog does not stop barking, wave the nice smelly treat just below the nose and this normally works, than use the ‘quiet, good boy’ cue.
c. Repeat this over and over, gradually increasing the time between saying the cue and offering the reward.
d. If you have a pup that does this a few times and then just does not listen and continues barking, give the pup a ‘time-out’ wherein both you and the treat leave the scene. Here show the pup by your body language (arms folded and stomping away) that you are not impressed with the behaviour. This works very well. When you do go back (and only after the barking stops) repeat the exercise, really go overboard when the pup stops barking and give the pup a jackpot by way of a few treats all at once (gold star). Repeat once or twice more and then stop and practice again at a later stage. If the pup will not give up once you do the reverse time out – then give the pup a time out instead. Remember, for pups, only 10 seconds unless barking, scratching, whining continue.
e. As with all aspects of dog training, this needs to be practised over and over and the more times it is practised throughout the day, the better. If the pup does start barking of its own accord, other methods that can be brought in to bring this to a stop, is distraction and/or redirection. I generally do not use the startle response with pups; rather teach them right from the beginning what is and is not acceptable.
Many behaviourist advocate using the method of first teaching the dog to bark on command and then bring in the above exercise of using a cue to stop the barking, but I have had a lot more success with stopping the barking rather that teaching the ‘bark’ cue first.
The easiest way is to set this exercise up and wait till your pup barks, then in an excited tone of voice, say ‘bark, bark’ and IMMEDIATELY he stops, softly and quietly give him a second cue of ‘quiet’ and then treat and praise copiously. As in all training, the timing of the treat is important. If you give him the cue ‘quiet’ while he is barking, initially he is not going to get the idea. He will soon get the idea and then you can get him to bark and quieten on command.
Whether we like it or not, barking is part of a dogs natural behaviour, they will bark to raise the alarm about a possible intruder or when they feel threatened, they will even bark out of happiness or excitement, as a greeting, and then there are the cases where we ourselves have encouraged the dog to bark without being aware of it – ever had a dog stand at the front door and bark and you obliging get out of your chair and let it out? Or, the dog may bark in front of the fridge and you obliging open the fridge door and give it a treat? Well, what has happened here is that we have, unconsciously, rewarded the behaviour and if we keep on doing this, so will the dog – the behaviour works. In other words, instead of us training the dog, the dog has trained us!
The breed of the dog can contribute to the amount of barking. The dogs that tend to have the least barking related problems are the Basenji, which is a small, short haired dog that originated from Africa and falls into the Hound Group. This dog is not mute, but seldom barks – although it does ‘sing’. Other breeds which are noted not to be excessive barkers are the Bloodhound, Golden Retriever, Newfoundland, Akita’s and Rottweiler’s, then follows Labrador Retrievers, the Australian Shepherd, Great Danes, Old English Sheepdog and Alaskan Malamutes.
At the other end of the spectrum are the dogs which are most commonly the worst barkers (when they are not supposed to be) are the Terrier breed – Yorkshire, Cairn, West Highland, Fox Terrier as well as the Poodle breeds and Chihuahua and Pekinese. Having listed the above I have seen Poodles that hardly ever barked and have had a client who had a Rotti that had a really bad barking problem, but this at least gives you a general idea.
Why does the excessive barking occur? As mentioned above, it could be that the owner has inadvertently reinforced the behaviour. Alternatively, excessive barking is normally caused by boredom and/or frustration due to pup not getting either enough physical or mental stimulation. An additional factor can be that the pup has been left alone for too long without human company or that separation anxiety if perhaps present. It must be remembered that when we bring dogs into our lives, we are, in a way creating a human/canine pack or social structure.
It is when barking becomes excessive or incessant and the dog does not listen when asked to be quiet that it becomes a problem, to us humans at least! One of the very worse things we can do as humans is to yell at the dog ‘be quiet!’ as our frayed nerves just can’t take any more of the noise.
What we are inadvertently doing is exhibiting exactly the same behaviour of the dog and it may even think that we are joining in, or, that there really is something to bark about and the barking may increase to frenzy level. When we remember that to a dog attention is attention whether negative or positive, what we are doing by screaming, shouting and in some cases even smacking the dog is to reinforce the behaviour. If the owner smacks the dog, it may well stop barking, but we may just be starting a scenario wherein the dog learns that barking is unacceptable when the owner is present, but will continue the behaviour when the owner is not present!
It has even been seen in some dogs that the barking will become an enjoyable experience and they either continue for the sheer enjoyment of it or it has been hypothesized that the behaviour of barking may help to calm a dog down, as improbable as this may seem from the human perspective!
In no time at all, barking becomes an enjoyable habit. And for many dogs, once they start barking, they tend to continue barking for the sheer fun of it. The dog is not barking to annoy us, there is something wrong and in the Problem Behaviour section we will deal with possible causes and solutions, here we are looking at the way to prevent the pup from developing the problem.
A method that we can apply to prevent barking becoming a problem is to teach the dog to bark and be quiet on command. This is a method that is employed by many of the leading behaviourists. To achieve this:-
a. Set this up as a training exercise by having somebody available who will ring the doorbell when you ask them too. Have a supply of really nice treats available. Special treats such as Liver Bread are used for this exercise, which not only tastes good (to the dog!) but is easily smelt. If you can remember we said previously that the dogs sense of smell is much stronger than ours, as opposed to their taste buds, so by having a really nice smelly treat with for this exercise, it will be much easier to get the pups attention.
b. When the pup barks at the doorbell being rung, allow it to bark about three times, then offer a special treat holding it just over the nose and say ‘quiet’ or similar. It really doesn’t matter what cue you use for this, but be consistent and use the same cue every time and don’t make use of a cue that you will use in any other situation. As the dog stops barking to take the treat, say ‘quite, good dog’ and offer the treat. If the dog does not stop barking, wave the nice smelly treat just below the nose and this normally works, than use the ‘quiet, good boy’ cue.
c. Repeat this over and over, gradually increasing the time between saying the cue and offering the reward.
d. If you have a pup that does this a few times and then just does not listen and continues barking, give the pup a ‘time-out’ wherein both you and the treat leave the scene. Here show the pup by your body language (arms folded and stomping away) that you are not impressed with the behaviour. This works very well. When you do go back (and only after the barking stops) repeat the exercise, really go overboard when the pup stops barking and give the pup a jackpot by way of a few treats all at once (gold star). Repeat once or twice more and then stop and practice again at a later stage. If the pup will not give up once you do the reverse time out – then give the pup a time out instead. Remember, for pups, only 10 seconds unless barking, scratching, whining continue.
e. As with all aspects of dog training, this needs to be practised over and over and the more times it is practised throughout the day, the better. If the pup does start barking of its own accord, other methods that can be brought in to bring this to a stop, is distraction and/or redirection. I generally do not use the startle response with pups; rather teach them right from the beginning what is and is not acceptable.
Many behaviourist advocate using the method of first teaching the dog to bark on command and then bring in the above exercise of using a cue to stop the barking, but I have had a lot more success with stopping the barking rather that teaching the ‘bark’ cue first.
The easiest way is to set this exercise up and wait till your pup barks, then in an excited tone of voice, say ‘bark, bark’ and IMMEDIATELY he stops, softly and quietly give him a second cue of ‘quiet’ and then treat and praise copiously. As in all training, the timing of the treat is important. If you give him the cue ‘quiet’ while he is barking, initially he is not going to get the idea. He will soon get the idea and then you can get him to bark and quieten on command.
5. Preventing Digging in inappropriate places
Digging is a natural, instinctive behaviour, even more so in some breeds than others, such as the Terrier breeds that were bred to dig. Breeds such as the Alaskan malamute and Siberian husky like to dig an impression in the soil to cool themselves off and Labs love digging as well. You will notice that some dogs (again especially Terriers) will dig beds on the couch or your own bed before they lie down.
The dog’s ancestors used to dig holes for protection, to store leftover bones in (some dogs still do this today), to protect their young from predators and to have a den to give birth in.
Other reasons that dogs dig is they are attracted by the smell of manure, dig out of boredom, to get rid of excess energy or to release stress or anxiety, the dog may further be rewarded by the behaviour by finding little creepy crawlies, or it may even dig just for fun. Often with a dog that is digging, you may find that it is digging only in one particular location – such as what seems to be a straight line leading across the garden. It could well be that either water pipes or the wiring for an electric fence has been dug in this area. When treating digging in an adult dog, you need to explore further why this behaviour is happening – is the dog being given sufficient outlet for its natural behaviours? Is the dog frustration and suffering from a lack of physical and mental boredom?
The only real way to control digging it is to either have an area that is totally ‘dog friendly’ and they can do what they want to, but this often raises problems when the dogs go to other areas of the garden and then have great fun digging up plants and redesigning the garden, or else provide and teach the pup that digging is only allowed in its digging pit.
A digging pit is like a sandbox for dogs, great to play in. Now why would your dog dig in the digging pit rather than the rose garden? Simple, you make it rewarding for the dog to dig in the legal area simply by putting in toys, chewies, bones etc in it. Have the dog next to you and let him see you place a nice bone or chew toy in the dig box. Cover it up, then making a digging motion yourself, say ‘dig, dig’ in an excited voice. As the dog is already a digger it will be quick to mimic you – then guess what, a wonderful treat is found! Initially you may have to encourage your dog to dig in it, but once they get realize what is for, they will rather use the digging pit than dig somewhere which is not rewarding. Once your dog has mastered the digging cue, you can even have a 'helper' in the garden and ask the dog to 'dig, dig' in an exctied voice. They love this and are very good at getting out roots, however the holes are very seldom symmetrical!
You need to keep on replenishing the digging pit and make sure it doesn’t dry up of treats, or it will not be appealing. Soil is better than sand from the point of view that there is more likely to be a worm problem with sand. If you do decide on sand, then put in a handful of salt to discourage the worms on a regular basis. An added bonus of your dogs digging pit, is that it keeps them entertained while you are out as well.
Look for the best place to place the digging pit in your garden. Preferable an area that is shady and if possible, where the dog can see the gate. You will often find dogs digging over the surface soil looking for a cool place to lie so the digging pit will function for this as well. If your dog already has a favourite place to dig, then put your digging pit there. It should be approximately 2 x 3 meters (dependent on the size of the dog) and you can place bricks or railway sleepers around it to keep it intact if you like. Doing this will also make it look more appealing to the eye, and ferns and such can be planted around the borders, turning it into a feature.
For prevention, management really is the best option. Keep the pup where it can’t dig or redirect its attention if you see it starting in another area and up the practice on the digging pit exercise. In the problem behaviour section, you will learn other methods you can use. Prevention is better than cure.
Digging is a natural, instinctive behaviour, even more so in some breeds than others, such as the Terrier breeds that were bred to dig. Breeds such as the Alaskan malamute and Siberian husky like to dig an impression in the soil to cool themselves off and Labs love digging as well. You will notice that some dogs (again especially Terriers) will dig beds on the couch or your own bed before they lie down.
The dog’s ancestors used to dig holes for protection, to store leftover bones in (some dogs still do this today), to protect their young from predators and to have a den to give birth in.
Other reasons that dogs dig is they are attracted by the smell of manure, dig out of boredom, to get rid of excess energy or to release stress or anxiety, the dog may further be rewarded by the behaviour by finding little creepy crawlies, or it may even dig just for fun. Often with a dog that is digging, you may find that it is digging only in one particular location – such as what seems to be a straight line leading across the garden. It could well be that either water pipes or the wiring for an electric fence has been dug in this area. When treating digging in an adult dog, you need to explore further why this behaviour is happening – is the dog being given sufficient outlet for its natural behaviours? Is the dog frustration and suffering from a lack of physical and mental boredom?
The only real way to control digging it is to either have an area that is totally ‘dog friendly’ and they can do what they want to, but this often raises problems when the dogs go to other areas of the garden and then have great fun digging up plants and redesigning the garden, or else provide and teach the pup that digging is only allowed in its digging pit.
A digging pit is like a sandbox for dogs, great to play in. Now why would your dog dig in the digging pit rather than the rose garden? Simple, you make it rewarding for the dog to dig in the legal area simply by putting in toys, chewies, bones etc in it. Have the dog next to you and let him see you place a nice bone or chew toy in the dig box. Cover it up, then making a digging motion yourself, say ‘dig, dig’ in an excited voice. As the dog is already a digger it will be quick to mimic you – then guess what, a wonderful treat is found! Initially you may have to encourage your dog to dig in it, but once they get realize what is for, they will rather use the digging pit than dig somewhere which is not rewarding. Once your dog has mastered the digging cue, you can even have a 'helper' in the garden and ask the dog to 'dig, dig' in an exctied voice. They love this and are very good at getting out roots, however the holes are very seldom symmetrical!
You need to keep on replenishing the digging pit and make sure it doesn’t dry up of treats, or it will not be appealing. Soil is better than sand from the point of view that there is more likely to be a worm problem with sand. If you do decide on sand, then put in a handful of salt to discourage the worms on a regular basis. An added bonus of your dogs digging pit, is that it keeps them entertained while you are out as well.
Look for the best place to place the digging pit in your garden. Preferable an area that is shady and if possible, where the dog can see the gate. You will often find dogs digging over the surface soil looking for a cool place to lie so the digging pit will function for this as well. If your dog already has a favourite place to dig, then put your digging pit there. It should be approximately 2 x 3 meters (dependent on the size of the dog) and you can place bricks or railway sleepers around it to keep it intact if you like. Doing this will also make it look more appealing to the eye, and ferns and such can be planted around the borders, turning it into a feature.
For prevention, management really is the best option. Keep the pup where it can’t dig or redirect its attention if you see it starting in another area and up the practice on the digging pit exercise. In the problem behaviour section, you will learn other methods you can use. Prevention is better than cure.
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6. Preventing Begging
Although a pup would go up to its mother in the wild to ask for food which she may be carrying in her mouth, it is not natural for a dog to mooch from the pack leader, or, any other members of the pack. The only time this may occur in an adult dog is as a direct challenge and is associated with resource guarding.
In our family dogs, begging is simply a learned behaviour – whether we like it or not, somebody visiting or in our family has offered the dog food either from their plate, or slipped the dog something they themselves did not want to eat, normally under the table as in the picture insert. As we all know, dogs are quick studies as to which behaviour gets the desired results, and begging can quickly become an annoying behaviour.
The way in which to prevent is to never allow it to happen. If you come across a client where the behaviour has already started, ignoring the behaviour will not always work, as the dog may not be getting fed, but it will be hanging around the table area, looking at you beseechingly, or the mouth may be watering in anticipation.
As you have now learnt, negative punishment by way of the dog being removed from what it works is a wonderful training tool. There are several ways this can be achieved:-
These two above are modifications which I was taught over the years, however, I don’t use either of them and the reason for this is that, yes, we are stopping the behaviour by removing the pup, but we are not teaching the pup that the behaviour of begging is unacceptable!
I personally prefer to have the pup come into the area where food is being eaten and the second the pup either scratches, barks, looks beseechingly for food; I give the ‘Away’ cue. This is where I start directly at the puppy, speaking in a stern voice and pointing arm to the area I want the pup to go.
If this does not work, I do not repeat the ‘away’ cue, I simply pick the pup up and put it out the door nearest to where we are eating and do a 10 second time out. Pup is brought back in using the normal criteria, and if the behaviour is repeated, I first give the ‘away’ cue, and then another Time Out is performed. I really do find this to be the most effective method. It really does help in situations such as this to have a mat or bed where the pup can go and lie in. If so, the ‘away’ cue can be changed for the ‘bed’ cue.
Some people prefer the a. and b. above saying that it stops people offering the dog food and reinforcing the habit – my own feelings on this – punish the people that are contributing to the pup’s behaviour!
Although a pup would go up to its mother in the wild to ask for food which she may be carrying in her mouth, it is not natural for a dog to mooch from the pack leader, or, any other members of the pack. The only time this may occur in an adult dog is as a direct challenge and is associated with resource guarding.
In our family dogs, begging is simply a learned behaviour – whether we like it or not, somebody visiting or in our family has offered the dog food either from their plate, or slipped the dog something they themselves did not want to eat, normally under the table as in the picture insert. As we all know, dogs are quick studies as to which behaviour gets the desired results, and begging can quickly become an annoying behaviour.
The way in which to prevent is to never allow it to happen. If you come across a client where the behaviour has already started, ignoring the behaviour will not always work, as the dog may not be getting fed, but it will be hanging around the table area, looking at you beseechingly, or the mouth may be watering in anticipation.
As you have now learnt, negative punishment by way of the dog being removed from what it works is a wonderful training tool. There are several ways this can be achieved:-
- Remove the dog completely from the area initially. You can either supply a chew toy for the pup to get stuck into, or just leave the pup in another area of the home. If the pup barks, howls etc just ignore the behaviour.
- Feed the pup in another area at the same time the family is eating.
These two above are modifications which I was taught over the years, however, I don’t use either of them and the reason for this is that, yes, we are stopping the behaviour by removing the pup, but we are not teaching the pup that the behaviour of begging is unacceptable!
I personally prefer to have the pup come into the area where food is being eaten and the second the pup either scratches, barks, looks beseechingly for food; I give the ‘Away’ cue. This is where I start directly at the puppy, speaking in a stern voice and pointing arm to the area I want the pup to go.
If this does not work, I do not repeat the ‘away’ cue, I simply pick the pup up and put it out the door nearest to where we are eating and do a 10 second time out. Pup is brought back in using the normal criteria, and if the behaviour is repeated, I first give the ‘away’ cue, and then another Time Out is performed. I really do find this to be the most effective method. It really does help in situations such as this to have a mat or bed where the pup can go and lie in. If so, the ‘away’ cue can be changed for the ‘bed’ cue.
Some people prefer the a. and b. above saying that it stops people offering the dog food and reinforcing the habit – my own feelings on this – punish the people that are contributing to the pup’s behaviour!
7. Preventing Excessive Licking
Unless we can really learn to ‘speak & understand dog’, we can only hypothesize why this occurs, based on a dogs natural behaviour and our own observations and understanding of the behaviour. The motivation (reason) for licking seems to change from dog to dog and occurs in different circumstances. You may notice that if your dog is stressed or worried it may lick you more, while other dogs only offer the occasional affectionate lick and some give you the odd lick (or slobber!) when you arrive home. Many of the reason as to why these dogs engage in this behaviour are purely biological and part of a dogs innate behaviour.
If the pup is a consummate licker and is driving you nuts with its constant licking, we have added in some modifications at the end to help you change the behaviour.
Why Dogs Lick
If your dog is a consummate 'licker', you may find that you have, inadvertently, reinforced the behaviour by paying more attention to the licking, by way of shouting, reprimanding the dog, etc. I think by now you are starting to get a really good idea of how often, we as the owners and/or handlers actually cause unacceptable behaviours to continue!
Stopping the dog licking you
To a dog, attention is attention, whether negative or positive, so shouting at the dog for engaging in this behaviour only serves to reinforce it. If you are sitting petting your dog and it starts licking you, simply turn your body away and stop petting. The second the licking stops, you can resume petting the dog if you want too. If, at this stage, your pup starts to paw you (or similar) for attention, ignore these demands as well. If this does not work, then stand up for about a minute and then sit down again - alternatively you can pop the pup onto the floor without speaking - message is that unless the behaviour is stopped the petting will not resume and pup is put away (negative punishment). Your pup will quickly get to realize that licking takes away the thing it wants the most – your attention – bringing in the use of negative punishment. Just remember that when the pup wants to jump up on the chair again, it is on the owners terms and by invitation!
Unless we can really learn to ‘speak & understand dog’, we can only hypothesize why this occurs, based on a dogs natural behaviour and our own observations and understanding of the behaviour. The motivation (reason) for licking seems to change from dog to dog and occurs in different circumstances. You may notice that if your dog is stressed or worried it may lick you more, while other dogs only offer the occasional affectionate lick and some give you the odd lick (or slobber!) when you arrive home. Many of the reason as to why these dogs engage in this behaviour are purely biological and part of a dogs innate behaviour.
If the pup is a consummate licker and is driving you nuts with its constant licking, we have added in some modifications at the end to help you change the behaviour.
Why Dogs Lick
- When a puppy is born it is covered with a membrane which the mother will immediately start licking to stimulate the pup and start it moving and breathing.
- A pup is not able to eliminate spontaneously until approximately 3 weeks of age, so the mother will lick the puppy to stimulate the elimination process.
- At about 6 weeks of age, as their ancestors did, some pups will lick their mother’s lips to try to get her to regurgitate food for them, and many dogs still retain this instinct.
- Pups and dogs will lick themselves for hygienic reasons.
- I have found that dogs that are timid/fearful tend to lick their owners more, so this could be seen as a calming/appeasement/submissive/reassuring gesture. The more subordinate members of a pack will lick the more dominant members.
- Licking also releases pleasurable endorphin's which helps to reduce stress and helps to calm the dog – a bit like nail biting, knuckle cracking, or hair twirling in humans.
- Licking is also a form of affection and bonding.
- Dogs seem to enjoy the taste of our salty skin.
If your dog is a consummate 'licker', you may find that you have, inadvertently, reinforced the behaviour by paying more attention to the licking, by way of shouting, reprimanding the dog, etc. I think by now you are starting to get a really good idea of how often, we as the owners and/or handlers actually cause unacceptable behaviours to continue!
Stopping the dog licking you
To a dog, attention is attention, whether negative or positive, so shouting at the dog for engaging in this behaviour only serves to reinforce it. If you are sitting petting your dog and it starts licking you, simply turn your body away and stop petting. The second the licking stops, you can resume petting the dog if you want too. If, at this stage, your pup starts to paw you (or similar) for attention, ignore these demands as well. If this does not work, then stand up for about a minute and then sit down again - alternatively you can pop the pup onto the floor without speaking - message is that unless the behaviour is stopped the petting will not resume and pup is put away (negative punishment). Your pup will quickly get to realize that licking takes away the thing it wants the most – your attention – bringing in the use of negative punishment. Just remember that when the pup wants to jump up on the chair again, it is on the owners terms and by invitation!
8. Preventing reactive behaviour when pup hugged
I don’t believe that strange dogs should ever be hugged. Bear in mind what you have learn about a dogs natural behaviour and you will remember that one dog placing itself over the other dogs neck or shoulders is actually a sign of reactive behaviour. The only exception to this is when you see pups play fighting and often what will occur is both pups will be standing on hind legs and front legs can appear to ‘hug’ the other puppy – this is simply ‘rehearsal’ behaviour.
Why then are people surprised when a child gets bitten because it gave a dog a hug?? And believe you me, this does happen. One day when Brady was much younger I had taken him with me to an outside flea market and suddenly a lovely little toddler pulled away from her parents, rushed up to Brady, threw her arms around his neck and said ‘doggy, doggy’. Now luckily Brady has been habituated to being hugged by children, but this came totally out of the blue and not from one of the children he knows. He looked up at me, eyes frantic, head turned as far away from the child as he could, his neck seemed to have elongated in trying to get away, and to my thinking, his whole body said ‘help, get this off me!’. I told him to ‘calm’ and wait, then gently disengaged the child from around his neck and then spent some time teaching the parents how to get a child to approach a dog!
This will affect some dogs more than others. Dogs that are fearful will not like this behaviour; dogs prone to reactive behaviour will definitely not like this behaviour! Like us humans some dogs like bodily contact and others will avoid it.
However, in the event that a child ever does try to hug a dog, I believe that all dogs should be taught to tolerate the embrace to prevent reactive behaviour happening.
The speed in which you practice this exercise will be determined by the pup’s reaction to the hug. If the pup is not happy with it, go slower and practice over and over.
If find it is easier to hug a pup initially when holding it. Bring the pup up to your chest and hug it for a split second – offer a treat. Keep on doing this gradually building up the time period until you can hold the pup close for several seconds and rewarding each and every time.
When you have accomplished this, then start to do the same exercise with the pup standing on the floor. Depending on the size of the pup, this may not always be easy and you will have to get down to the pups level to achieve this. Keep on practising until the pup can tolerate this with no problem. Even try slightly firmer hugs – imagine if you were a child, how hard you would hug.
Your next step here is to bring a child into the game, but make sure it is a child of about 10 -13 and start off with the hug with the child holding the pup. Reward each and every time and ensure that every one of these interactions is supervised by an adult. You can then try this with a younger child, always supervised and watching the pup’s body language very carefully. Do not practise this game for long periods of time.
This should be practised and reinforced throughout the dog’s life and careful attention should be paid to the pup's/dogs body language to make sure the pup/dog is coping and stopped as soon as the first sign of displeasure is seen.
9. Dealing with 2 pups together
It is often said that two pups are double the fun – more like double the trouble on many occasions. It is all very well saying that people should never get two pups at the same time and the reasons for this are numerous and listed below, however, in the case where the owner does have two pups, better that they have some information as to how to handle this situation and avoid future problems in the future, so we have given you some tips on how to get the best out of this situation.
Why not a good idea to have two pups at the same time
Tips for two pups
Alone Time Training
In order that the dogs gain confidence and get used to spending time alone, they should, several times a day, especially when pups, spend time away from one another. This is easily achieved by presenting chew toys such as Kong's and each pup is put away from the other pup and allowed to chew happily. Instead of being alone being viewed as a stressful event, it becomes one that is a positive one for the pups.
The way to do this is to have two chew toys, such as Kongs or Busy Buddy's and get the pups into the habit of having a good chew on them. The easiest manner to achieve this is that the pups, when together (make sure no reactive behaviour) are given the chew toys for a few minutes and then they are taken away. About half hour later they are presented again for a short period of time. Continue this throughout an evening or during the day. At the end of the training period, these chew toys will have become the most important thing in the pups life!
The following day the chew toys are brought out and presented, but this time the pups are given them in different areas. They chew for about 5 inutes and then take the chew toys away again. A while later supply the chew toys in different areas again. Very slowly and surely the time period the pups are chewing separately is increased. It is very important that these chew toys are taken away at any other time - the pups will then view this time alone as being rewarding.
The time period should start off very short and then gradually be built up so that the pups can eventually spend a good couple of hours alone. This should be continued throughout the pup’s lives and the golden rule is that these specific chew toys are only given when the pups are alone.
Walking and playing alone
The pups should be walked separately and if they can not cope with being alone, then you can start with the exercise for Alone Time to get them habituated to this.
You can do variations of this by way of taking them out together and then go in different directions for a short distance and then bring them back together if the pups are not coping – gradually build up the time and distance between them.
If you are leaving one of the pups at home, then this pup gets the chew toy to keep it occupied.
Separate the pups, or have two people working with them separately and also teach them how to retrieve balls separately. Play games of 'pullie'' etc separetely - this will help the pups to build confidence without the fear of the more bossy pup coming to take the toy away.
Settle time to avoid over excitement
At times it may seem that all the pups do is run around and play and then eventually just collapse and fall asleep. On occasion what can occur is that due to high excitement levels fights can break out, especially as the pups get older. By giving them regular intervals of ‘settle’ time and doing this before the excitement levels get too high, you will be teaching the pups a valuable lesson of learning how to sit quietly – you can even bring in a favourite chew toy for the pups initially to help them to settle down – just as our children need to be taught to sit and have some quiet time, so do our dogs. If your dogs are crate trained, then you can pop them in there with their chew toy.
The above also helps in the home situation whereby you can have two pups lying quietly and chewing rather than running around the home causing havoc.
Avoiding resource guarding
Dogs are natural resource guarders, in their natural environment they would have to be or they would not survive.
In addition to training the pups not to resource guard, bring in the following as it can keep stress levels down and in my eyes, prevention is always better than cure.
It is often said that two pups are double the fun – more like double the trouble on many occasions. It is all very well saying that people should never get two pups at the same time and the reasons for this are numerous and listed below, however, in the case where the owner does have two pups, better that they have some information as to how to handle this situation and avoid future problems in the future, so we have given you some tips on how to get the best out of this situation.
Why not a good idea to have two pups at the same time
- Double trouble
- Two dogs to be walked, fed, played with and in today's world there does not always seem to be the time for one dog in many instances, especially when it comes to daily walks.
- Double vet bills – this is the annual vaccinations, tic and fleas control, de-worming and sterilization – not taking into account the emergency visits that can, and often do occur.
- Two pups at puppy school and further training
- Two pups tend to become dependent on one another and if they are separated often do not cope
- They tend to bond more with one another than with the owner/s and make their own little mini pack, often ignoring the owner/s when requests are made of them.
- One pup tends to be more confident and the other pup often fearful
- It often occurs that one pup will be the one that will take control of toys etc and not allow the other pup to play at all.
- Seldom that both pups grow to their full potential.
- Fighting more likely to break out, especially in the adolescent period where it becomes important for the pup to determine its own place in the hierarchy. If the pups are females, this can even end up in one pup being rehomed as the fighting can become very severe
Tips for two pups
Alone Time Training
In order that the dogs gain confidence and get used to spending time alone, they should, several times a day, especially when pups, spend time away from one another. This is easily achieved by presenting chew toys such as Kong's and each pup is put away from the other pup and allowed to chew happily. Instead of being alone being viewed as a stressful event, it becomes one that is a positive one for the pups.
The way to do this is to have two chew toys, such as Kongs or Busy Buddy's and get the pups into the habit of having a good chew on them. The easiest manner to achieve this is that the pups, when together (make sure no reactive behaviour) are given the chew toys for a few minutes and then they are taken away. About half hour later they are presented again for a short period of time. Continue this throughout an evening or during the day. At the end of the training period, these chew toys will have become the most important thing in the pups life!
The following day the chew toys are brought out and presented, but this time the pups are given them in different areas. They chew for about 5 inutes and then take the chew toys away again. A while later supply the chew toys in different areas again. Very slowly and surely the time period the pups are chewing separately is increased. It is very important that these chew toys are taken away at any other time - the pups will then view this time alone as being rewarding.
The time period should start off very short and then gradually be built up so that the pups can eventually spend a good couple of hours alone. This should be continued throughout the pup’s lives and the golden rule is that these specific chew toys are only given when the pups are alone.
Walking and playing alone
The pups should be walked separately and if they can not cope with being alone, then you can start with the exercise for Alone Time to get them habituated to this.
You can do variations of this by way of taking them out together and then go in different directions for a short distance and then bring them back together if the pups are not coping – gradually build up the time and distance between them.
If you are leaving one of the pups at home, then this pup gets the chew toy to keep it occupied.
Separate the pups, or have two people working with them separately and also teach them how to retrieve balls separately. Play games of 'pullie'' etc separetely - this will help the pups to build confidence without the fear of the more bossy pup coming to take the toy away.
Settle time to avoid over excitement
At times it may seem that all the pups do is run around and play and then eventually just collapse and fall asleep. On occasion what can occur is that due to high excitement levels fights can break out, especially as the pups get older. By giving them regular intervals of ‘settle’ time and doing this before the excitement levels get too high, you will be teaching the pups a valuable lesson of learning how to sit quietly – you can even bring in a favourite chew toy for the pups initially to help them to settle down – just as our children need to be taught to sit and have some quiet time, so do our dogs. If your dogs are crate trained, then you can pop them in there with their chew toy.
The above also helps in the home situation whereby you can have two pups lying quietly and chewing rather than running around the home causing havoc.
Avoiding resource guarding
Dogs are natural resource guarders, in their natural environment they would have to be or they would not survive.
In addition to training the pups not to resource guard, bring in the following as it can keep stress levels down and in my eyes, prevention is always better than cure.
- Separate food bowls in separate areas where the pups cannot see one another. This allows the pups to eat totally alone and in peace without watching one another and worrying about the other dog coming to take their food. . Food is a major part of a dogs day and I firmly believe that by them eatlng alone it is a lot less stressful in that they are not rushing the food or eyeing the other pup who may want to get at its food bowl. Food bowls are picked up and put away and a good idea to alternate where the pups eat so that there is no resource guarding of a specific area.
- The above also assures that the pups can eat without the other pup being around as this can become a problem if the pups are over dependent on one another.
- People can also be resource guarded - an easy way to avoid this is that not just one person in the family is responsible for all the dog duties - this to be shared among all the members and includes areas such as feeding, play and walks.
- Dogs can resource guard bedding, chairs etc. Just reaching a simple 'off' can go a long way to prevent this and if one of the pups does object to the other dog trying to climb on a chair or similar, then the NRM can be used to indicate to the pup that the behaviour is unacceptable - remember to reward with RM
Natural Hierarchy
We know by now that the 'pack leaders' or 'pack parents' should always be ourselves, however there will be a natural play for status between the pups when they get a little older and as long as there is no reactive behaviour, the pups should be allowed to work this out by themselves.
As we have mentioned before, hierarchy is seldom static and changes constantly between the pups. An example of this is that one pup may be higher ranking when it comes to toys or to food, and the other dog may be higher ranking when it comes to wanting attention, or being out in front when walking.
However ways that we can increase our own standing and prevent future problems between the pups is as follows:-
We know by now that the 'pack leaders' or 'pack parents' should always be ourselves, however there will be a natural play for status between the pups when they get a little older and as long as there is no reactive behaviour, the pups should be allowed to work this out by themselves.
As we have mentioned before, hierarchy is seldom static and changes constantly between the pups. An example of this is that one pup may be higher ranking when it comes to toys or to food, and the other dog may be higher ranking when it comes to wanting attention, or being out in front when walking.
However ways that we can increase our own standing and prevent future problems between the pups is as follows:-
- If one pup is obviously the higher ranking when you arrive home, after doing your ignoring exercise, on average greet, praise and treat the higher ranking puppy first about 2 out of 3 times. As you, and all other members of the family are higher, get into the habit of offering to the lower ranking pup on occasion - you are then saying that you are in charge and not the pups.
- The Away Exercise - this is an excellent exercise to use to show pups who is in charge and to prevent reactive behaviour between the pups
- Feeding by hand - work to earn - by you taking control of the pups daily food allowance on occasion and asking them to come to you and Sit, you are controlling an important resource and cementing your own standing.
